Commit
Begin by making a commitment -- a conscious decision -- to remember people's names.

Don't let yourself off easy, blaming a "bad memory." Forgetting names is due less to a bad memory than to a lack of application. Tell yourself -- because it's true -- that you can remember names if you want to and if you work at it.

Repeat after me: repetition, repetition, repetition. When you are first introduced to someone, use their names several times when you talk to them. "Hi, Jim, nice to meet you. So, what do you do for a living Jim? Do you have any kids, Jim? Jim, it was great to meet you!" If you don't catch their name when it was originally told to you, ask for it again. Saying it immediately will help you remember it when they walk away.

Mind Picture -- Associate the person's name with a picture that is easy to recall. The full name should create ONE picture. The person whose name you have made a picture of should be in the picture. Difficult names may need to be broken down into syllables to create memorable pictures. Example: Staneart (Stan-irt)-Picture me STANding up to my waist in dIRT.

Turn Names into Pictures
This converts the name into an image, which is the language of your memory. For instance when you meet Barbara think of a barbed wire fence. Attaching a picture to a name is simple and because you will run into so many people with the same names, you will need fewer images than you think.

The tips from Real Simple -- ostensibly to help you remember names -- are mostly cool sneaks for weaseling out of having forgotten. Tacky, but clever, if you're a big chicken:

If a third party whose name you can’t recall enters a conversation, says Martin, “confidently introduce the person whose name you do know: ‘This is Heather Davis.’ Then just let the mystery woman complete the introduction.”

I use all these techniques, and I still forget people's names if I have to meet them months or years leater.

I've taken to, upon leaving a party, writing down the names of all the people there, and something about them - or perhaps drawing a quick sketch to remind me. In meetngs, I always make a sketch of the persons I think I'll have to remember later. It works great if I'm supposed to be taking notes, too.

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